Cooking with charcoal has become a very popular pastime among family and friends. Several varieties of types and forms of grill are commercially available and known in the prior art. One such type of cooking charcoal grill that is commercially available is known as the hibachi.
Two common methods which are used to ignite charcoal briquettes in the shallow rectangular container of the hibachi, are electrically heated starter rods and charcoal briquettes pre-impregnated with charcoal lighter fluid.
Electrically heated starter rods require electrical energy to heat the rods. However, electric outlets or power sources are not always available at picnic grounds or beaches, and the ignition process to burn the briquettes is slow.
Charcoal briquettes, pre-impregnated with charcoal lighter fluid, produce flames which engulf the briquettes within the hibachi when ignited. The open top of the conventional hibachi allows flames and hot gases to escape freely. Therefore, the generated useful heat is not used sufficiently to burn briquettes quickly. The tiring task of fanning air to provide needed oxygen to expedite the burning of briquettes is history.
One such fuel ignitor device is U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,609 to Tisdale 1983. It comprises a perforated kindling enclosure which tapers outward from the top to the bottom. A hibachi-type grill which is open on the top and the bottom, with an included grate on the bottom that fits on top of the kindling enclosure is provided. The kindling enclosure employs paper to ignite charcoal. Because paper burns quickly, air flow is limited only when paper burns with no positive differential air pressure. The direction of heat from the burning paper is controlled by the direction of the wind because the kindling enclosure is perforated and the hibachi is used outdoors. The open top of the hibachi allows useful heat to escape freely, which does not contribute to burning the charcoal quickly.